The Germany Branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) expresses our best wishes to all our compatriots both home and abroad on the occasion of the 57th anniversary of our independence.
The advent of our independence ushered in an era of hope and expectation not just among our people but for all people of African descent across the globe. Indeed, the independence of Ghana accelerated the decolonisation process in Africa and as a result several countries on the continent achieved their political independence in the 1960s.
We can be proud,and rightly so of our political independence but we have failed to achieve any semblance of economic independence the absence of which our political independence means very little. As we mark this day, it is crucial as a people to do some sober reflection as well as critical examination as to where we have gone wrong with the view to correcting our mistakes and shortcomings.
Leadership, it is often said, is the cause and every other thing is the effect. Hence, the greatest obstacle to our progress and development has been the lack of effective and transformational leadership to steer the affairs of the country. The need for and the importance of effective leadership in the transformation process was clearly demonstrated between 2001 and 2008 when President J A Kuffour transformed Ghana from a HPIC economy, an economy that was virtually on the verge of collapse into a lower middle income economy. Not only that, some of the most innovative and far- reaching social intervention programmes were introduced during this period.
Unfortunately, the coming into office of the NDC in 2009 marked a complete reversal of all the gains that have been made during the eight-year rule of President Kuffour and the NPP. The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is but a shadow of itself, the School Feeding Programme has virtually collapsed, the Free Maternal Care is now history while the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) now GYEEDA has become an avenue for looting and siphoning public funds into the private accounts of NDC leaders and their cronies.
Since 2009, Ghana, our beloved country instead of progressing has been retrogressing at an alarming rate as evidenced by the high level of youth unemployment, high cost of living, high utility prices, hyper-.inflation and the daily depreciation of the cedi against major currencies. Indeed, the ordinary Ghanaian today is poorer than he was at the eve of independence in 1957 thanks largely to the unprecedented levels of corruption, incompetence and ineptitude that have characterised the Mahama-Amissa Arthur administration. Moreover, statutory payments including the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF), GETFUND and National Health Insurance Levy have not been made for over a year now although the government is under a legal obligation to do so within three months.
At the moment Ghana can best be likened to a lost ship on the high seas without a captain to steer it ashore. As we mark this day, we need to remind ourselves that the present dispensation is unacceptable and that Ghanaians demand and deserve honest, committed and effective leadership not mediocrity
Signed
Kwaku Anane-Gyinde
NPP-Germany